Download or read book Queer Inclusion in the United Methodist Church written by Amanda Udis-Kessler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-02-27 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United Methodist Church has been in conflict over lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender inclusion issues since 1972. In this groundbreaking book, Udis-Kessler examines this struggle, analyzing both sides of this divisive debate among one of the most prominent religious organizations in the United States.
Download or read book The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 1968 written by United Methodist Church (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Making Sense of the Bible Leader Guide written by Adam Hamilton and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this six week video study, Adam Hamilton explores the key points in his new book, Making Sense of the Bible. With the help of this Leader Guide, groups learn from Hamilton as his video presentations lead groups through the book, focusing on the most important questions we ask about the Bible, its origins and meaning.
Download or read book Radical Love written by Patrick S. Cheng and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first introductory textbook on the subject of queer theology. Contextual theologies have developed from a number of perspectives – including feminist theology, black theology, womanist theology, Latin American liberation theology, and Asian American theology – and a wide variety of academic and general introductions exist to examine each one. However, Radical Love is the first introductory textbook on the subject of queer theology. In this lucid and compelling introduction, Cheng provides a historical survey of how queer theology has developed from the 1950s to today and then explicates the themes of queer theology using the ecumenical creeds as a general framework. Topics include revelation, God, Trinity, creation, Jesus Christ, atonement, sin, grace, Holy Spirit, church, sacraments, and last things, as seen through the lenses of LGBT theologians.
Download or read book Living Faithfully written by Dave Barnhart and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is deep disagreement about what The United Methodist Church should teach about homosexuality, same gender marriage, and the ordination of LGBTQ persons. In 2019, a special session of General Conference will be held to consider these issues and how they will be addressed by The United Methodist Church in the future. Living Faithfully is designed to help you understand the shape of this debate and what it means for the present and the future. Each chapter includes background on the Bible, Christian theology, history, stories from diverse viewpoints, and United Methodist structure and practice to guide reflection and conversation. You’ll also find definitions of key terms and information about upcoming events. The four chapters are: 1. Is the Practice of Homosexuality Incompatible with Christian Teaching? 2. Is Same-gender Marriage Compatible with Christian Teaching? 3. Is Ordaining Practicing Homosexuals Compatible with Christian Teaching? 4. Where Are We Now? This four-week study will help you understand and grapple with various views about the ministry and teaching of The United Methodist Church around issues of human sexuality. It will lead you to have honest, well-informed, and grace-filled conversations with others about these matters and the calls for change. And it will help you discern, in prayer and conversation, how you can respond faithfully in love of God and neighbor. A Leader Guide is included with lesson plans to help facilitate a four-session small group study. From the Faultlines collection, resources intended to inform conversations around human sexuality and the church.
Download or read book Adam s Gift written by Jimmy Creech and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-04 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiring first-person account of a minister whose ordination credentials were revoked by The United Methodist Church after he performed same-gender commitment ceremonies.
Download or read book Reclaiming Church written by J.J. Warren and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Reclaiming Church, J.J. Warren continues his call to reaffirm the Church be welcoming to all, including young people like those he led at Sarah Lawrence College who “didn’t know God could love them because their churches said God didn’t.” The book addresses three points of importance to young people looking to be part of a church community, and a call: 1. The identity and nature of God 2. The role of Scripture in discerning God’s call 3. The author’s own experience of God, church, and identity In the final chapter, “We Are the Church,” Warren focuses on practical and positive steps for joining voices, being heard, building bridges, and working together for young people to reclaim Church in their lives. Key Features • Affirms to the LGBTQ community and those who love them that the Church is for all. • Inspires younger progressive people to stay within the Church and work to renew the call of ministry. • Explores the Church’s beginnings and emphasis on community. • Calls readers to focus on practical and positive steps to reclaim Church in their lives.
Download or read book Our Strangely Warmed Hearts written by Karen P. Oliveto and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-03-26 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As John Wesley discovered his true spiritual identity, he experienced a strangely warmed heart. Through poignant stories and well-reasoned principles, Karen Oliveto discloses why and how spiritual renewal and a personal call to ministry emerge in the strangely warmed hearts of lesbian and gay Christians. In The United Methodist Church (and other Christian denominations), it is difficult or impossible for lesbian, gay, transsexual, and bisexual clergy or laity to become a visible and outward channel for God’s saving grace. This book traces the history of the church’s struggle with homosexuality, highlighting critical incidents in the culture and church polity which shape the church’s response. The issues are deeply rooted in the way God’s people understand scriptures, which are interpreted as a means of grace for some and as a rule-book for others. This book includes first-person narratives of LGBTQ persons faithfully serving in a denomination that denies their calls and—in some cases—their presence. These stories will show how the coming out process is deeply spiritual as one grows into an authentic, God-created and graced self. “You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.” Psalm 139:13-14 (CEB) “Our Strangely Warmed Hearts is a breath of fresh air in the study of the United Methodist struggle and intense debate regarding human sexuality. Karen Oliveto lives in faithful witness and serves people with the heart of Christian leadership."—Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church. “Karen Oliveto offers a compelling window into the steadfast faith and the resilience of the LGBTQ Christian movement in the United States. After offering an extraordinary history of the LGBTQ equality movement in our society and in The United Methodist Church, she rightly asks, 'Is there any other group that we would marginalize in this way?' I wholeheartedly recommend Karen Oliveto's new book to everyone who is affected by the debate over the sacred worth and place of LGBTQ people in our lives and churches. This book inspires hope.” —Michael J. Adee, Ph.D., Director, Global Faith and Justice Project, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA “Bishop Oliveto's story mirrors the experience of many LGBTQ ministers who are serving the Body of Christ openly, and not in the shadows. The integrity, courage, and deep faith of God’s LGBTQ people who are called into ministry have enriched the church and encouraged the outsiders who were always welcome at Jesus' table.”–Andy Lang, Executive Director, Open and Affirming Coalition, United Church of Christ “I loved it! It drew me in immediately and kept me strapped in on what I knew would be a roller coaster of painful history, sprinkled triumphs, and then stories that broke my heart, gave me cheer, and brought tears to my eyes. Bishop Oliveto takes readers on a fascinating trip through LGBTQ history, and into the often contentious collision with mainstream religion…and then brings it all together through the personal stories that make our past and present come alive! I applaud Bishop Oliveto’s book and will highly recommend it to the faithful and faith curious of all religions.”–The Reverend Marian Edmonds-Allen, Executive Director, Parity "[Bishop Karen Oliveto] is sharing the love of Jesus, and meeting people where they are, no matter who they are, and no matter what they think about her. She loves them." —Kent Ingram, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Download or read book The Fight for Marriage written by Phillip F. Cramer and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-03-26 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For leaders in governments and in churches, marriage equality is the most contentious civil-rights dispute in the 21st century. During an era where nearly half of all marriages end in divorce, same-gender couples now have the federal civil right to marry, too. At a time when 62 percent of Americans approve of same-gender marriage, according to June 2017 Pew Research, churches are having to come to terms with whether to recognize and affirm these faithful partnerships as sacred covenants. Attorneys Harbison and Cramer, faithful and active members of a United Methodist congregation, brought one of the cases to the US Supreme Court, which resulted in the 2015 landmark decision that permits persons of the same gender to marry. They bring a unique legal and cultural perspective to the controversy. For the three couples Harbison and Cramer represented, marriage is not an "issue" to be resolved. Marriage is rather a sign for these couples of their faithful promise to love each other until they depart this life. "Each couple married for several reasons, including their commitment to love and support one another, to demonstrate their mutual commitment to their family, friends, and colleagues, and to show others that they should be treated as a family. They also married to make a legally binding mutual commitment, to join their resources together in a legal unit, and to be treated by others as a legal family unit, rather than as legally unrelated individuals. Finally, each couple married so that they could access the legal responsibilities of marriage to protect themselves and their families, just as heterosexual couples do." Aleta A. Trauger, Federal Judge With a first-hand account of the respectful courtroom drama concerning marriage in American communities and states, Harbison and Cramer show why states care about marriage, why the church got involved in marriage more than a thousand years after Jesus's earthly ministry, and how the church and the state function in partnership to foster the purposes and social benefits of marriage. From the Faultlines collection, resources intended to inform conversations around human sexuality and the church.
Download or read book The Queer Bible Commentary written by Deryn Guest and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Queer Bible Commentary brings together the work of several scholars and pastors known for their interest in the areas of gender, sexuality and Biblical studies. Rather than a verse-by-verse analysis, typical of more traditional commentaries, contributors to this volume focus specifically upon those portions of the book that have particular relevance for readers interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues such as the construction of gender and sexuality, the reification of heterosexuality, the question of lesbian and gay ancestry within the Bible, the transgendered voices of the prophets, the use of the Bible in contemporary political, socio-economic and religious spheres and the impact upon lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Accordingly, the commentary raises new questions and re-directs more traditional questions in fresh and innovative ways, offering new angles of approach. This comprehensive, cutting-edge commentary is prefaced by an introductory essay by Professor Mary Tolbert. Contributors draw on feminist, queer, deconstructionist, utopian theories, the social sciences and historical-critical discourses. The focus is both how reading from lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender perspectives affect the reading and interpretation of biblical texts and how biblical texts have and do affect lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender communities. The commentary includes an extensive bibliography that directs the reader to a full range of literature relating to queer interpretation of scripture.
Download or read book Queering Wesley Queering the Church written by Keegan Osinski and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-07-09 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty years after Stonewall, the experiences of LGBTQ+ Christians are--rightfully--beginning to be received with interest by their churches. Queering Wesley, Queering the Church presents a prototype for thinking about Wesleyan holiness as an expansive openness to the love and grace of God in queer Christian lives rather than the limiting and restrictive legalism that is sometimes found in Wesleyan theology and praxis. This inventive project consists of queer readings of ten John Wesley sermons. Reading these sermons from a queer perspective offers the church a fresh paradigm for theological innovation, while remaining in line with the tradition and legacy of Wesley that is so central and generative to Wesleyan churches. Arguing that a coherent line of thought can be drawn from Wesley's conception of holiness to the queer, holy lives of LGBTQ+ Christians, Queering Wesley, Queering the Church playfully utilizes queer theory in a way that is fully compatible with Wesleyan teaching. This book aims to be a first step in seriously considering the theological voices of LGBTQ+ Christians in the Wesleyan tradition as a valuable asset to a vital church.
Download or read book Take Back the Word A Queer Reading of the Bible written by Robert E. Goss and published by The Pilgrim Press. This book was released on 2000-11-15 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the most revolutionary contribution of "Take Back the Word" is its presentation of resistant practices of reading the Bible that challenge oppressive applications of Scripture to "clobber" queer folx. If lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender, non-gender-conforming, and questioning people are to take back the word of Scripture for themselves, they must take it back in a new way. Essays examine queer strategies for reading, queer ethical models from the Hebrew Scriptures, and queer good news stories from the Christian Scriptures.
Download or read book Chicago Whispers written by St. Sukie de la Croix and published by University of Wisconsin Pres. This book was released on 2012-07-11 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chicago Whispers illuminates a colorful and vibrant record of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people who lived and loved in Chicago from the city’s beginnings in the 1670s as a fur-trading post to the end of the 1960s. Journalist St. Sukie de la Croix, drawing on years of archival research and personal interviews, reclaims Chicago’s LGBT past that had been forgotten, suppressed, or overlooked. Included here are Jane Addams, the pioneer of American social work; blues legend Ma Rainey, who recorded “Sissy Blues” in Chicago in 1926; commercial artist J. C. Leyendecker, who used his lover as the model for “The Arrow Collar Man” advertisements; and celebrated playwright Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun. Here, too, are accounts of vice dens during the Civil War and classy gentlemen’s clubs; the wild and gaudy First Ward Ball that was held annually from 1896 to 1908; gender-crossing performers in cabarets and at carnival sideshows; rights activists like Henry Gerber in the 1920s; authors of lesbian pulp novels and publishers of “physique magazines”; and evidence of thousands of nameless queer Chicagoans who worked as artists and musicians, in the factories, offices, and shops, at theaters and in hotels. Chicago Whispers offers a diverse collection of alternately hip and heart-wrenching accounts that crackle with vitality.
Download or read book Are We Really Better Together written by Rob Renfroe and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors set out to address the division within The United Methodist Church and contend that remaining united is hurting the church and the proclamation of the gospel. Recognizing that conservative and progressive Methodists are sincere in their beliefs, the authors doubt that one side will convince the other to change their minds. They therefore suggest that a fair and amicable separation is the best course of action. "The United Methodist Church is at a crossroads. We are a divided church and the truth is we are a hurting church. Some of us believe that our differences are so great and the ongoing battle so destructive that it’s time to part ways. For over four decades conservative and progressive United Methodists have expended enormous emotional, financial and spiritual resources to gain the upper hand in a denomination that has declined every year since its founding in 1968. Surely our efforts and our finances would be better devoted to evangelism, discipleship and missions. For the sake of the lost and the poor, shouldn’t we set each other free to pursue what we believe to be God’s calling upon our lives and our ministries?" (From the Introduction)
Download or read book Wesley Studies written by and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Three Simple Rules written by Rueben P. Job and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn the three simple rules to mutual respect, unity and a deeper daily relationship with God.
Download or read book True Inclusion written by Brandan Robertson and published by Chalice Press. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So your church website says you're welcoming, a rainbow flag flies out front, worship uses gender-inclusive language, and you make sure you greet the stranger next to you on Sunday mornings. But is all of that really enough? And what if those welcoming gestures actually keep visitors from returning and exclude dozens of other groups or people in your community? In True Inclusion, public theologian and pastor Brandan Robertson shares how to move your church from mere welcome to radical embrace. Pointing to a clear biblical imperative for radical inclusivity in the sanctuary and in the public square, Robertson presents a paradigm-shifting vision of community, "where nothing is simple, nothing is easy, but everything is beautiful." Learn practical, step-by-step approaches to becoming deeply, robustly, and richly inclusive of all people regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and socioeconomic status. Written for people and communities at every stage of the journey, True Inclusion will challenge and inspire you to embody a gospel of radical embrace for all.
